Closing the door, we sat down near the far wall.
I checked my phone to see another message.
Your psych profile says you won't turn her over. Who I am is irrelevant to your mission. When she's safe, contact me, and we'll discuss the possibility of returning you home.
"Now that's more like it," I said, pleased by the response. I was letting the comment about my psych profile go for now, more interested in the idea of returning home. Carter had said he didn't have the technology to send me back to my time, but Taylor claimed his people did. If his agency was the one calling the shots now, I had a much better chance of seeing my home again than before.
If I survive this adventure.
"What is this?" Princess Flowers asked and tilted the phone down to see the screen.
"It's … uh … a tool," I answered.
"What does it do?" She took it from my hands and examined it.
Wow. I had no idea how to answer the question.
Voices stirred from the hallway, and we both froze.
"Rabiyah?" came the soft call.
"It's one of my guards," she whispered to me.
"One who wants to help you or kill you?" I asked.
She gazed at me, large eyes sad.
"Let's wait here." The shadow of someone passing appeared beneath the door and floor. He was followed by several more. I didn't know the politics or people well enough to understand who to trust, and judging from Flowers' face, she didn't either.
Mahmood would.
Thinking of what happened to him made me hold my mouth. When this was over, I was going to be sick for days.
"Search the rooms," someone directed.
We couldn't reach the lowest of the ceiling beams without knocking over or moving a piece of furniture. My eyes went around the room. I stood and hurried to the tapestry running along one wall and ran my hands across it, seeking another hiding spot. The center of the heavy woven tapestry gave. I waved for Flowers to join me, and we pushed aside the covering to crawl behind it.
The cutout was the same size as the one in her room, barely large enough for both of us.
The door creaked open, and we clung to one another as someone entered.
"Princess, are you here?" a male voice asked.
She looked up at me. I shook my head, and her grip around me tightened.
More men joined the speaker, until it sounded like a party in the hallway. Where had they all been hiding when this floor was cleaned out by the raiders? Mahmood would know … I didn't think the princess did, or we would've ended up somewhere other than the roof.